Author: David Robie
On 10 July 1985, French secret agents bombed the Greenpeace campaign flagship Rainbow Warrior in Auckland Harbour, New Zealand. Portuguese-born photographer Fernando Pereira died in the sabotage outrage that shook the world. The bombed ship was scuttled off a New Zealand bay in 1987 to form a living reef and Rainbow Warrior II was commissioned.

Eyes Of Fire tells this story, but it also tells the story of nuclear testing in the Pacific. In 1954 the United States government tested a nuclear weapon in the Marshall Islands that posioned Rongelap Atoll. Thirty years later the people of Rongelap, who were still suffering from radiation poisoning, asked the crew of the Rainbow Warriror to move them to Mejato, 180 kilometres away. This was the Warrior’s last and most dramatic mission, before it sailed to Auckland to meet its fate.

The 30th anniversary edition has a Little Island microsite with plenty of Rainbow Warrior resources. Little Island Press has created this site in partnership with the Pacific Media Centre and AUT journalism and television students in the lead-up to the 30th anniversary of the bombing to provide context and capture interviews with the Warrior’s crew members.

The Pacific Media Centre at Auckland University of Technology also collaborates with other Asia-Pacific media centres engaged in research and cultural production and develops cultural and research publications, building on the success of the peer-reviewed publication Pacific Journalism Review, media freedom project Pacific Media Watch and current affairs website Asia Pacific Report.